US missile strike kills 12 in Pakistan
A suspected US missile strike killed at least 12 people in a village near the Afghan border yesterday, including several suspected foreign militants, Pakistani officials said.
The attack happened in North Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal region and stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters suspected of mounting attacks on US troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Two missiles apparently fired from a drone aircraft demolished a house in North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's lawless tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan.
"Nine foreigners were among ten killed," a top security official told AFP. Pakistan officials normally use the term "foreigners" to describe al-Qaeda militants.
Up to 14 militants were killed last Friday in a US missile strike, which destroyed an al-Qaeda training camp in Kumsham village in North Waziristan.
A series of recent strikes against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in Pakistan's tribal areas, all blamed on unmanned CIA drones, have raised tensions between Washington and Islamabad.
Pakistan's tribal belt is considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri. Missile attacks from unmanned US aircraft in the region have increased dramatically in recent months.
Several Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press that at least two missiles hit a house in Ghari Wam, a village about 18 miles from the frontier, at about 2 am on Friday morning.
Two officials said put the death toll at 12 and said they included several suspected foreign militants. Their exact identity was not immediately clear. Taliban gunmen had cordoned the area and removed the bodies, one official said.
Another official put the toll at 13 and said 10 of the dead were foreigners.
The officials cited reports from agents and informants in the area and the different tallies could not be reconciled immediately. All of the officials asked for anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The spokesman for the US Embassy in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, could not be reached.
Washington has stepped up the strikes since March, when a civilian government took over from General Pervez Musharraf, who turned Pakistan into a close US ally in the "war on terror."
President Asif Ali Zardari warned the new US commander for Iraq and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, last week that the attacks were "counterproductive" and could harm the battle for hearts and minds here.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the country's military leadership also told the general that the United States should respect Pakistani sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani is scheduled to undertake a three-day visit to Brussels from Tuesday for talks with senior Nato officials about US missile strikes on Pakistani soil near the Afghan border.
US and Nato officials say that the rugged tribal regions have become safe havens for militants linked to Taliban and al-Qaeda who fled the US action against the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Pakistan rejects accusations that it is not doing enough to tackle the extremist threat within its own borders.
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